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Israel’s Supreme Court overturns deportation of US student | NZ Herald

Lara Alqasem

Oh the irony…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an appeals court ruling that agreed with the government’s decision to bar an American graduate student from entering the country over her alleged involvement in the boycott movement against the Jewish state.

The court accepted Lara Alqasem’s appeal, saying her desire to study in Israel undermines the premise of her alleged support for a boycott. It said that if her deportation was based on her political opinion, then the state’s order was “a radical and dangerous step” that could erode Israeli democracy.

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→ 18 October 2018
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French government suspends demand for West Bank product labeling | The Times of Israel

Authorities backtrack over claims of discrimination, two years after adopting measure vocally protested by Israel; Amnesty International criticizes Paris over move

French authorities have reportedly suspended their insistence on special labeling for West Bank products following a lawsuit alleging that the practice is discriminatory.

The France office of the NGO Amnesty International complained about the suspension in a statement Wednesday.

“Instead of complying with the request to end imports [from the West Bank], the government has chosen to roll back and suspend the demand for labeling,” the human rights group wrote.

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→ 17 October 2018
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Why You Should Know about—and Read—Jacob Neusner | Logos.com

Jacob Neusner

NZFOI receives no commissions for any product sales through this article.  We partly reproduce it, here merely to raise awareness of Neusner’s writings amongst our readers who may never have heard of him.  

If you don’t know who Jacob Neusner is, it’s time to bone up. Apart from his exceptional prolific publishing output (and that’s an understatement; see point one below), he was known both for his highly acerbic nature to some and his deeply affectionate loyalty to others. He was also, as my final point suggests, the consummate scholar, but not in the way you’d expect.

Neusner was one of those incredibly brilliant individuals who always seem destined to create havoc through their combination of ingenuity, intellect, and industriousness. Neusner possessed all three. He related how he was never intellectually challenged in his youth until he encountered the Talmud in October 1954. Although raised Jewish, he began learning Hebrew much later than his Jewish peers. Still, he ended up resetting the paradigm for the study of Judaism, from its earlier apologetic form to rigorous critical inquiry through the use of academic methods.

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→ 17 October 2018
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The similarities between Jewish and Christian biblical commentaries | CJN

Maimonides in Cordoba

Jewish life in Europe in the Middle Ages was often precarious. Medieval Jews were expelled from England, France, Spain and Portugal. They were forced to participate in public disputations that were usually rigged – they had to defend Judaism without being accused of blasphemy against Christian doctrines. They were accused of and punished for such fabricated crimes as ritual murder and host desecration. Crusaders on their way to the Holy Land to kill Muslim “infidels” often practised on Jewish infidels along the way, decimating a number of Jewish communities.

But on a day-to-day basis, Jews, the only tolerated minority in medieval Christendom, had many rights, including the right of self-government.  In recent generations scholars, have also highlighted the intellectual connections between medieval Jews and Christians, especially in the area of Bible commentary.

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→ 14 October 2018
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Lorde fans fined by Israeli courts raise more than $13,000 for Gaza mental health charity | NZ Herald

Two Lorde fans have raised thousands for a Gaza Strip charity instead of paying Israeli courts $12,000 in damages after they allegedly persuaded Lorde to cancel a concert.

Lorde

Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu-Shanab woke up on Friday “to find Israeli courts have ordered us to pay more than $12,000 USD in damages to three Israeli teenagers”.

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→ 10 October 2018
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Jerusalem mayor wants UN agency out of city | NZ Herald

Nir Barkat

JERUSALEM (AP) — Jerusalem’s outgoing mayor is calling on the international community to consider his proposal to end the local operations of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, saying there is “no such thing” as a refugee in the city.

In an interview, Barkat, who is leaving office after elections later this month, said Sunday he was inspired to make his proposal after the U.S. cut off $300 million in funding to the agency last month.

The proposal by Nir Barkat marks the latest assault by Israel and the United States against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. U.S. budget cuts have sent the agency into a financial crisis and drawn Palestinian accusations that Israel and the U.S. are trying to erase the refugee issue from the international agenda.

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→ 9 October 2018
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Israeli PM’s wife goes on trial for fraud | NZ Herald

Sara Netanyahu

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife appeared in court Sunday for the start of her trial over alleged fraud and breach of trust, drawing renewed attention to the many scandals plaguing the prime minister and his family.

Sara Netanyahu has been charged with allegedly overspending roughly $100,000 on celebrity chefs at the prime minister’s official residence, even when there was a full-time chef on staff.

Mrs. Netanyahu appeared before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court wearing a dark jacket and white shirt, her hair coiffed into curls. She flashed a nervous smile to a courtroom packed with reporters but made no remarks before the press was asked to leave.

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→ 8 October 2018
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3 Palestinians, including teenager, killed in Gaza protest | NZ Herald

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy, as thousands of people protested Friday along the fence dividing the Gaza Strip and Israel, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

The ministry said the boy was struck in the chest, a 24-year-old man was shot in the back and another man, 28, succumbed to his wounds at hospital.

It added that 126 protesters were wounded by live fire.

Responding to calls by Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, thousands of Palestinians thronged five areas along the fence, burning tires, throwing rocks and chanting slogans against a stifling Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the territory.

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→ 8 October 2018
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My grandfather wasn’t a Nazi-fighting war hero — he was a brutal collaborator | Salon

Jonas Noreika

A deathbed promise led to me discovering his complicity in the Holocaust — and what it means beyond my family

Eighteen years ago, my dying mother asked me to continue working on a book about her father, Jonas Noreika, a famous Lithuanian World War II hero who fought the Communists. Once an opera singer, my mother had passionately devoted herself to this mission and had even gotten a PhD in literature to improve her literary skills. As a journalist, I agreed. I had no idea I was embarking on a project that would lead to a personal crisis, Holocaust denial and an official cover-up by the Lithuanian government.

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NZFOI: For our friend, Daniel Gold.

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→ 8 October 2018
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We are all Jews today | Aish.com

So moving…

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